A well-intentioned young American woman setting up a nursery school in a remote cliffside southern Italian village in the early 1960s gets reluctantly pulled into researching the fate of two village men when a flood reveals a skeleton in the ruins of the post office. Headstrong and nursing a past romance, Francesca slowly realizes learns how much she doesn't understand about the village operates. She finds allies but also becomes increasingly uncertain about her safety in light of all of the undercurrents. Excellent character development and pacing; beautiful, sometimes unsettling setting.

This sweeping tale of historical fiction follows Francesca Loftfield, an American woman working with an international aid agency to build a nursery school in the tiny, isolated town of Santa Chionia, located in the treacherous mountains of Calabria. Battling both nature, in the form of floods and snowstorms that knock out the one bridge that connects the town to others and the electricity and spotty telephone service, and the townspeople who may be plotting against her, Francesca has her work cut out for her. But she believes there’s nothing that will stop her. Until a flood unearths a skeleton underneath the destroyed post office.

Suddenly, Francesca is thrust into the middle of the mystery, where a few want her to help them find out the identity of the skeleton, but most of the townspeople seem obstinantly uninterested, or worse. Francesca finds herself seeking answers that only unearth more secrets the villagers want to stay hidden. Increasingly unsure of who she can trust, Francesca becomes socially isolated, even as the harsh weather and unstable infrastructure of the Calabrian mountains physically isolate her even more.

Grames sets her mystery during the tumultuous 1960s, when roles for women were changing, in many places, if not in Santa Chionia. Calabria, the fabled home of brigands and outlaws, was also facing its own upheaval during this period. Whole villages in the remote mountains were relocating to cities only to have their culture and their identities swallowed up by the much denser coastal towns. The tale, expertly told, woven from some of the most beautiful sentences I have read in some time, ushers the reader through a time and place so harrowing and beautiful, the village lives and breathes on the page.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read an advance review copy.

Calabria, 1960. A remote backward village full of secrets, bound by customs and family ties "Francesca [Franca, who many call maestra] Loftfield, a twenty-seven-year-old, starry-eyed [idealistic] American, arrives in the isolated mountain village of Santa Chionia tasked with opening a nursery school. There is no road, no doctor, no running water or electricity. And thanks to a recent flood that swept away the post office, there’s no mail." Most troubling, though, is the human skeleton that surfaced after the flood waters receded. Who is it? And why don’t the police come and investigate? When an old woman begs Francesca to help determine if the remains are those of her long-missing son, Francesca begins to ask a lot of inconvenient questions." And so it begins.

Francesca is determined to find out who the body is and why things are the way they are in this village [extremely patriarchal and traditional], but also to bring preschool education to this backwater. Add in corruption, many more characters: including a priest, a doctor [from afar] a mailman from the next town, a communist, a mayor, and more--there are so very many characters/families/member and moving parts that I sometimes found it hard to keep track. For Francesca, the outsider, the language also was a barrier--fluent in Italian, but dialect, and sometimes Greco.

Add in Franca's back story--her parents, her friends, and her Italian husband, Sandro, and it gets more complex. Then add in Ugo, a local love interest--oh my!

Franca lives with Cicca, her cranky landlady [who I found endearing] and--who communicates with her dead sister, Peppinedda.

Convoluted and perhaps unnecessarily complicated, nonetheless, I found this book often charming.

Phrases/descriptions I liked:
"I turned my Amercian dentistry on each of the men"
"I felt the menace of his physicality"
"twitching with energy"
"none of the eggplant silhouette one becomes accustomed to in priests"
"arresting quality of sloping bosom"
"man with gray hairs that draped like roof tiles over his ears"

New words for me:
nepenthe
kwashiorkor
ferule

No spoiler but I did not care for the ending.

I wanted to read this book as it sounded interesting and I was going to Calabria for 5 days [60+ years afterwards]--but the description of Pizzo still fit the picture!

3.5, cannot round up.

The Lost Boy of Chionia
While the prose was rambling at times, adding to character confusion, it spurred the story forward with colorful and big words (enjoyable). An idealistic young American Italian searching for answers to her mistakes and a charitable purpose in life. How does a Philadelphia-born woman end up in a rural Italian town in the 1960's? Where finding a set of bones while setting up a toddler enrichment program in a village with no running water becomes more than a murder mystery? With lots of moving parts the lack of life skills, insecurities, old traditions, violent mafia-like control tactics, and ancient inbred misogyny in a place full of suspects, just remember, it's all about the journey

Francesca arrives in a remote and insular Italian village in 1960, sent to open a nursery school and teach hygiene and child care to the locals. It's unlike anywhere else she's ever been: there's no running water or electricity; medical care is hours away on foot; and everyone has secrets--about themselves and everyone else. It's a fraught climate of tacit blackmail, threats, dangerous politics, and missing people. When a body is discovered after a flood washes the post office away, a woman ask Francesca to find out if the skeleton is that of her son, missing for many years. It turns out that he's not the only missing person from the village, and Francesca's investigation deepens, upsetting the whole village. The novel is an excellent rendering of culture shock, the politics of mid-20th century Italy, the immigration pipeline to America, and other issues. The slow and careful development of characters meant that there was always a payoff on the way--especially when ti came to Francesca's own hidden past. While the ending didn't quite work for me, this is nonetheless a solid read.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC of The Lost Boys of Santa Chiona. The premise seemed interesting to me, a mystery in Italy is right up mg alley. Unfortunately, the story didn’t from me. The writing was good, but it was missing the suspense.

Francesca is an American who moves to Italy in 1960 to start a nursery school. A flood unearths human remains and Francesca try’s to solve the mystery.

This book was beautifully written and unique. It's a story of culture clash, belonging, and misunderstood intentions all wrapped up in a compelling mystery. The village of Santa Chionia, our setting, was vividly portrayed; it felt like another character in the book all on its own. I did find certain plot points and characters frustrating at times and there were nearly too many townspeople to keep straight. However, I found this book wrapped up everything beautifully in the end. Have faith!

An idealistic American woman goes to a small, isolated town in Italy to start a nursery school and becomes embroiled in a mysterious death. Sounds simple enough, but, of course, it's always much more complicated and convoluted that what it appears.

The writing in this book is beautiful, and I really wanted to love it. But the story is slow and keeping track of the characters…I almost needed to create a chart to keep them straight. Most of the townspeople were deceitful, mean-spirited, and generally unlikeable, and I just found the main character to be annoying. Because of the writing I wanted so badly to like this book more, but just didn’t love the characters or the decisions the main character made.

There is not just one lost boy, but many lost boys and men from the village of Santa Chionia in Calabria, Southern Italy. That's what 27 year-old Francesca finds out when she travels from the U.S. to Italy to open a nursery school in the village.

I was impressed with the enthusiasm and curiousity that led Francesca on to find out the fate of these lost boys/men, especially when this is not her village, none of the residents are related to her. and many disappeared some thirty years in the past. .

I learned from the book about remote village life in the hills of Calabria, the lack of basic resources and amenities from their government, the destitute nature of the villagers, the life of women and men still governed by old tales, outdated traditions, and superstitions.

This book is valuable for those who study this area and aspect of Italy and whose interest lie in this part of the country of Italy. The average reader might find themselves not as invested in the lost boys and men as Francesca is, as there are so many characters involved, so many different families, and the local politics is mind boggling. It took me half the book to become interested enough to follow some of the characters and their problems.

The love interest in the book adds to the story but there is not enough tension built and leading up to the affair between Francesca and her lover, Ugo.

An impressive novel of a place and people and the politics and dire economic situations that drives the lives of the people.

Julia Grames gives us an entertaining read against an Italian landscape. We have missing persons, a skeleton, an an amateur detective determined to solve the mystery. Keeping track of the characters was a bit much and took away from the read a notch, but it was still a good story. I would recommend.

When a young American woman moves to a rural village in the mountains of southern Italy she experiences severe culture shock and becomes embroiled in local scandals and corruption. I found the beauty to be in the details as the character describes the landscape, the walk up and down the mountainous streets, the staggering weight that the women of the community carry. Cantankerous characters with ulterior motives and cultural nuances that defy modern sensibilities were as engrossing for me as the mystery central to the plot, though that was fast paced and engaging as well.
A must read for fans of Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache series!
Thank you to NetGalley, Juliet Grames, and Knopf for an advanced copy of this title. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own and were not compensated. I can't wait to recommend this book to patrons in my library!

"One unidentified skeleton. Three missing men. A village full of secrets. The bestselling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna brings us a sparkling—by turns funny and moving—novel about a young American woman turned amateur detective in a small village in Southern Italy."

I wanted to read this book for two reasons: 1: This blurb; 2. This is the author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna.

It's a slow-burn mystery, for sure, but had so many elements that I love: historical fiction, character growth, and a setting in Italy. I just loved it.

This book went from a low 3 to a solid 4 in the last quarter of the story. It would make a fun book club read. My recommendation is to make a list of characters and their relationships to each other as you meet them. My low 3 opinion had to do with feeling confused about the characters. I think I would have stayed much more engaged if I were less confused.

BUT, pieces started coming together in rapid succession! It was a satisfying plot twist, and the end leaves from for less of discussion.

I was given online access for my unbiased opinion through #NetGalley

Idealistic American Francesca is sent to Calabria to establish a preschool for the impoverished residents. Her mother is from Calabria so she speaks the local dialect but the inhabitants are slow to accept her and she struggles to adjust to the local customs, her bitter landlady, and the abject poverty surrounding her. Soon after she arrives, a flood reveals a body buried under the past office and she attempts to identify the skeletal remains but there is more than one "lost boy" it could be.

This atmospheric book transports the reader to rural 1960 Calabria but I am not sure that's where I wanted to be. The grinding poverty and lack of a likeable character made this an unappealing place to visit. The plot meandered along. Is the book meant to be a mystery, a morality tale, or simply historical fiction? It is beautifully written but I could not enjoy reading it.

Review of Uncorrected eBook File

When Francesca Loftfield arrives in the remote village of Santa Chionia, she seeks a meaningful life and so plans to open a nursery school. But a flood unearths a body and she soon finds herself enmeshed in the mystery surrounding the identity of the skeleton.

But her questions rankle some of the citizens and, although she has a tendency to disregard local traditions, her desire to help is an honest one. But can she find the answers when some are determined to keep her from succeeding in her quest.

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With its strong sense of place, the village of Santa Chionia comes to life in this historical narrative set in 1960. The plot twists and turns, often becoming overly convoluted, but each storyline has its own intrigue.

Although the characters are well-drawn and believable, readers will soon discover that Francesca is often her own worst enemy as she runs roughshod over customs and beliefs in the remote Italian mountain village. But the underlying plot is both intriguing and captivating and readers are sure to root for her to succeed in spite of herself.

Readers who enjoy historical fiction with a bit of mystery and intrigue are sure to enjoy Francesca’s adventures in Santa Chionia.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor / Knopf and NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
#TheLostBoyOfSantaChionia #NetGalley

I received an advance reader copy of this book. It did not affect my review of the book.

This was quite a hard book for me to read. It felt more like a non-fiction book than fiction. While it provided quite a bit of information I don't think I understood as much as what the author would have liked me to understand.

Quite disturbing information if any of this book was true. I also was disappointed in how it ended. I don't feel like I really knew what was going to happen to the villagers and I am not sure the identity of the corpse was truly solved.

The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia (2024)
By Juliet Grames
Alfred A. Knopf, 416 pages
★★★★

If you've ever gone on a college J.Y.A. program, joined the Peace Corps, stationed overseas, or were a Fulbright scholar, at some point you were probably jarred to awareness that not everyone sees the world the same way you do. Ironically, sometimes it hits hardest for those seeking to connect to their roots, as in the case of an Italian-American in Italy. Imagine how much harder it might have been in 1960.

Francesca “Franca” Loftfield comes from an Italian American family of professionals. She's a Barnard grad who pursued a PhD at Oxford and Venice. She even married an Italian guy and moved to Rome. Franca had been in country long enough to be fluent in Italian and know the proverbial lay of the land.

Ahh! But Rome isn't the same as Calabria, and it's especially not like a remote village and the Aspromonte region. The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia takes us to a village that's a time warp in which the present and future take a back seat to the past. It's literally beyond where the road ends; a flood washed away the bridge that crosses the Amendola River and a waterfall. To get there, the bus stops at Bova, you walk for three hours, cross a plank over the river, and enter a world of tradition.

This is to be Franca's home for the next two years. She has walked away from her marriage and signed on with Child Rescue, a charity that plans to set up a nursery school in Santa Chionia. Her only other charge is to stick to Child Rescue’s mission. Officially, Mayor Stelitano, Father Pantaleone Bianco, and most area residents are enthusiastic. “Officially” every villager is a “Christian,” there are no Mafioso in the area, and everyone is a goatherder. Yet, Franca's warned never to walk alone at night, no one would dream of calling the carabinieri, there are clearly some rich locals, and everyone warns her that nothing will ever get done. Nonetheless, everyone has agendas that are outside of Child Rescue’s purview.

To her face they call Franca maestra (teacher), but that's not what they say behind her back. Her cranky landlord Cicca doesn't want her to turn on the electricity–a single light bulb–and the local diet consists of lots of lentils, borage, and spiky plants. The postal service is slow and the phone lines are always “out.” It doesn’t help that Franca pokes her nose into things that upset the locals–like the fate of a missing boy or noticing that everyone seems to be related, perhaps too much so! They also harbor secrets and speak Griko, an Italian dialect mixed with Greek, which takes getting used to.

Grames opens her novel with an epigraph: “The deepest despair that can take hold of a society is the fear that living honestly is futile.” It is, in many ways, the crux of the novel. Troubles bubble up regularly, but more attention is spent on tradition, resignation and rehashing old mysteries than in moving forward like a plucky American would do. Yet Franca can't resist being drawn into investigating the fate of locals said to have emigrated decades ago, the identity of a skeleton discovered in the foundation of the post office during a 1950s flood, an old photograph, local elections–whose results she fails to see are predetermined–domestic turmoil, legends, and the possibility that the village might be abandoned. Not to mention her own libido. Except for the latter, she's trapped between rules and customs.

Grames gives us a tale of culture clash, deception, mysteries faux and real, dishonesty, naivete, regret, and a young woman out of her depth. There is, though, some redemption amidst the deeper despair and futility. The Lost Boy requires concentration as there are few shortcuts to direct readers. Grames also often leaves it to readers to translate Griko and Italian terms and sometimes uses English vocabulary in nonstandard ways. Personally I appreciated her approach as it had the effect of encouraging close reading to keep tabs on who is playing whom and why. I did find it somewhat perplexing that Franca feels overly clueless and the novel’s villain is too easy to discern. Nonetheless, The Lost Boy of Chionia is a reminder that crossing either a washed-out bridge or cultural gaps requires going beyond preconceived expectations.

Rob Weir

Francesca Loftfield is an idealistic, altruistic 27-year-old American who is sent on an important mission to Santa Chionia, a small, isolated mountain village in Calabria, Italy. Her goal is to build a nursery school which would be a game changer for this community. It’s 1960 but it might as well be the Middle Ages in Santa Chionia as electricity is almost non-existent, there’s no running water, professional health care, telephones, or modern conveniences, and poverty is the norm. Whenever the bridge is down (a common occurrence), the town is cut off from the rest of the world. Getting out of Santa Chionia is a treacherous ordeal as one has to traverse over miles and miles of ravines, hills, and forests. The child rescue organization that is sponsoring Francesca’s undertaking believes that if the young children are given proper education, and taught how to have better health and hygiene, not only will the infant mortality rate will be drastically reduced, but it will be a step towards bringing the community into the 20th century.

One would think that establishing a nursery wouldn’t incur any opposition but unfortunately for Francesca, there are many Chionoti who don’t want her accomplishing her assignment. Having the people of Santa Chionia remain backwards and uneducated benefits a small group of elites who aren’t going to allow Francesca to crash their party. Especially not a young American woman who doesn’t know the ways and customs of the village. As an outsider, Francesca has a multitude of problems dealing and just communicating with the Chionoti. She doesn’t know who to trust; people she believed to be enemies are really allies, and some of her “friends” are really her detractors. Not only does Francesca have to cope with contentious townsfolk, but quite often she is her own worst enemy. Francesca is stubborn, impetuous, rash, reckless, temperamental, and naïve, all traits which cause her to end up in hot water more than once. She’s also kindhearted, loving, sensitive, passionate, making her a completely endearing character. In spite of her many flaws and impulsive behavior, it’s difficult to not be behind her 100%.

As if Francesca didn’t already have a herculean task setting up a nursery school not everyone desires, she ends up taking on the role of amateur detective. A flood unearths a human skeleton that had been buried underneath the post office. One woman believes that the remains belong to her missing son, while another woman believes that it’s her unaccounted for husband. Both of these women beg Francesca to help them ascertain what happened to their loved ones. Suffice it to say, many of the townspeople don’t appreciate Francesca’s poking around. Francesca also has to make difficult decisions regarding how involved she wants to become with the other issues happening around her, such as domestic abuse, extortion, and thievery. As Francesca realizes that her life may be in danger, she’s torn between her desire to complete her mission, and wanting to escape with her life. As the story progressed and the suspense continued to build, it's easy to become anxious about Francesca’s well being.

The author has done a marvelous creating a sense of place. Santa Chionia is a picturesque town that for all of its beauty, contains much ugliness and vileness. It was horrifying to hear about such barbaric traditions as fuitina and "rehabilitating marriage.” She also excels in creating fascinating and memorable characters.

I was torn between wanting to see how the story was going to end, and not wanting to end my time in the world of Francesca and Santa Chionia. I usually don’t care for sequels but I would love for the author to revisit Santa Chionia, maybe have Francesca become an advisor to another idealistic young woman who attempts to bring an improved quality of life to the children in this town where the people in power will do all that they can to maintain the status quo, thwarting progress at all costs.

I highly recommend getting lost in Santa Chionia, you might never want to come back.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in return for my honest review.

The Lost Boy of Santa Chiona refers to a skeleton that is unearthed by a fall flood in the small Italian town of Santa Chiona in the early 1960s. Theresa is a young American woman working for a Child Relief agency that has been sent to open a nursery school. She is immediately drawn into the mystery of the skeleton, and it seems that there is intrigue around every corner of the village. The story gets too convoluted for me. It was hard to remember the relationship between all the characters and although I was certain the landlady was up to no good, she was the only one without an ulterior motive or false face by the end. Even Theresa wasn't always honest with the villagers and seemed like a lost child herself.

It's 1960, and Francesca Loftfield, a twenty-seven-year-old "very American," American is tasked by the British organization with opening a school in a small mountain village called Santa Chionia. No water, electricity, professional medicine... Francesca has an uphill battle in this isolated part of Italy.

When flood levels recede and a human skeleton is found, Francesca is begged by a local housekeeper to determine if it's her long lost son.
It's complicated and bulky but an interesting story and full of rich detail that any historian would love.
#knopf #pantheon